Plasma Physicists Use Magnetic Imperfections to Enhance Fusion Reaction

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) idea follows the Japanese art of kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original. Image Credit: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Click the press release link for the largest view and more images.

That idea is inspiring a new approach to managing plasma, the super-hot state of matter, for use as a fusion power source. Scientists are using the imperfections in magnetic fields that confine a reaction…